


A Belladonna With A Smile

by musicaldeaths



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is...
Genre: A Little Less Sixteen Candles A Little More "Touch Me" (Video), Alternate Universe - A Little Less Sixteen Candles (Music Video), M/M, Supernatural Elements, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:51:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9641453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicaldeaths/pseuds/musicaldeaths
Summary: William seems to drift off for a moment, gazing into space before snapping back into focus. “Of course, the main difference between a belladonna flower and a vampire is that one is bitten,” William’s lips curl into a fang-baring smile, “and the other bites.”Sixteen Candles AU because there isn't enough Gabilliam in that category. Can you tell I've been reading too much Anne Rice?





	

**Author's Note:**

> i'm re-uploading this because I need to make the chapters longer so reread this chapter even if you read the other one because it's been edited.

“I think you need to take a different approach,” Gabe says by way of greeting as he enters the room.

Pete scowls at him, adjusting the ice pack over his swollen eye and shifting his weight on the couch in an attempt to find a less uncomfortable position. “Oh yeah? I think you’re fucking stupid, what’s new?”

Gabe brushes off the insult with a roll of his eyes and sits down in an empty chair. There’s a single lamp on in the corner of the room to please Pete’s human band mates, but aside from that the room is dark. “Look, I like my revenge served cold as much as the next vampire – but if the cops are on the other side then violence won’t work.”

Pete tightens his jaw but stays silent, which Gabe takes as a sign of resignation.

“Why don’t you try and compromise with him?” Gabe suggests.

Pete laughs suddenly, loud and braying, and it stretches his bruised face in a way that looks painful. “Compromise? Are you serious? You do realise that you’re telling me to make a deal with the devil, right?”

Gabe sighs and leans back in the chair. “C’mon dude it’s worth a try.”

Pete looks away and fixes his gaze on a particular spot of coffee table. Gabe doesn’t know if he’s considering it or just zoning out.

After a few more seconds, Gabe says, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Pete’s eyes flick over to him but they’re less cold, more teasing. “Let’s not go there.”

XXX

The Dandies’ headquarters are exactly how Gabe had imagined them to be; a large, white-painted house surrounded by an expanse of meticulously well-kept garden, plus what looks like a golf course around the back. It would probably be even more picturesque in daylight, but, well, it’s not like Gabe would survive long enough to appreciate the view.

Gabe wasn’t nervous before, but as he and Pete approach the gates, the uncomfortable ache of anxiety builds low in his chest. They stop just shy of the entrance and Pete reaches up to ring the bell.

A cheery voice rings through the speaker, “Hello?”

Pete clears his throat. “Pete Wentz. William’s expecting me.”

The voice turns slightly disdainful. “Of course. Come on in.”

There’s a loud click and the gates creak open hesitantly. Pete glances at Gabe, inhales - “Here goes nothing.” – and starts walking.

They cross the driveway and reach the door just as it opens and a man (who looked barely a day over eighteen, but dressed in the typical Dandy fashion that suggested he was born a century ago) gestures for them to come in. Gabe feels a flicker of recognition as he takes in the boy’s large features and dark eyes but he can’t put a name to the face.

The boy simply says, “This way,” and walks off, leaving Pete and Gabe trailing behind him. They walk through the halls, too focused on keeping up with the Dandy to take in all the elaborate furnishings around them.

“Mr. Beckett is in his office,” the Dandy informs them, before stopping at a door and rapping on it firmly.

There’s an incoherent noise from inside the room and the boy twists the handle and opens the door, revealing William lounging on the windowsill, one foot on a large mahogany desk. Once he sees Pete and Gabe, his lips stretch into a cat-like smile, exposing his pointed teeth, and he jumps down from his perch and crosses the room in a few long strides.

“Gentlemen,” he says, still smiling like he’s genuinely amused. “Do come in,” he says, and then, looking behind them at the boy: “Thank you, Brendon.”

The Dandy nods his head and leaves the room as William beckons his guests into his study, seating them in two armchairs in front of his desk. William assumes his earlier position on the windowsill and tilts his head down slightly, smile still hinting at the corners of his mouth.

“So,” William says, and the syllable rings loud and clear in Gabe’s head. “What’s this about a compromise?”

“It’s less of a compromise, more of a…ultimatum,” says Pete, eyes staring William down, daring him to attack.

William is unfazed. He quirks an eyebrow and reaches down to pick up a cup of tea, sipping tentatively before saying: “Go on.”

“You can stop hunting and only drink from animals, stop terrorising the neighbourhood and stop fighting with the other clans, or…” Pete pauses, searching William’s face. “Or I will team up with Clandestine and the Pikes and we will rip you apart.”

William’s expression remains thoughtful for the next few moments, eyes flickering back and forth between the two vampires, and then he cracks another smile, setting his tea back down on the windowsill. He slides off the ledge and walks up to his desk, placing both hands on the surface for balance as he leans forward slightly. Gabe is fairly convinced that William is about to pounce on one of them, but all he does is swipe his tongue across his pointed teeth and say: “Write up a contract. Bring it to me in a fortnight and we’ll see.”

That was a lot easier than Gabe had expected, he should probably know better than to trust what the vampire says, but right now William’s eyes are on him, coy smile still intact, and he’s having trouble thinking straight.

Pete stands up, extending a hand, and says, “Deal,” as William shakes it. William then extends his hand to Gabe and he takes it, trying (and failing) to discreetly avoid his gaze. William withdraws his hand, looking sated and calm, before leading them out of the study.

XXX

Mike Carden and the others arrive back at the manor half an hour after Pete and Gabe leave; William tells Brendon to bring Carden to the study, and he obliges with an adoring smile and a quick bow. People accuse Brendon of being a suck-up and William can see why, mostly because he seems ready to get on his knees for William on command (William has let him a couple times, mainly because his lips are full and inviting and that boy really is good at giving head). Brendon is eager, but that’s understandable; no one wants to please someone as much as a vampire does their superior.

When Carden enters the study, his face is flushed and glowing from the hunt, hair slightly messy and sleeves still rolled up. William watches him as he takes a seat in front of the desk. “Wentz came to see me today.”

Mike pauses from rolling down his sleeve to look at William. “ _Pete_ Wentz?”

William hums his confirmation. “And his friend, Gabe Saporta. I think I might like to have that one on our side.”

Mike rolls his eyes and resumes his earlier task. “We all know that’s William-speak for getting into his pants.”

William just laughs, knowing it would be fruitless to argue otherwise.

“What did they want?” Mike asks, expression serious.

William’s lips twitch into an amused smile. “A compromise.”

Mike mirrors the smile. “Did you tell them you’d be willing to compromise their ability to use their cardiovascular muscles?”

William chuckles – this was the reason he’d asked to speak to Mike rather than one of the others. Brendon may be William’s right-hand man in most ways, but Mike is William’s oldest friend and confidant, and he wants to figure out the logistics of this contract before he discusses it with his second-in-command.

“We’ll see.”

William doesn’t really have any intention of accepting the deal, but he doesn’t want to dismiss it entirely either. He needs time to figure out the next course of action, and why not have a bit of fun playing with Pete and his gang first?

XXX

Two weeks later, when Gabe is walking up the driveway of the Dandy manor, he decides there are two reasons why he hates Pete Wentz. First – for bailing on him last minute and leaving him to face William alone to look over the details of the contract, and second – for making the contract so fucking long that he has to spend extra long going through it with William.

He spends the walk to William’s study running through what he’s going to say, but by the time he’s walked into the room and greeted William with a handshake, he’s forgotten all of it.

“Uh…” Gabe says dumbly, trying to form a smart and coherent sentence in his brain.

William raises an eyebrow and gazes at him amusedly, before holding out his hand. It takes Gabe a few moments to register what that means, and another to will his body to move in accordance to his brain, but eventually he manages to place the contract in William’s open palm.

William turns and walks a few steps to his desk, leaning against it and idly flicking through the document; it takes him a few minutes to scan through each page, and when he reaches the end and places the contract on the table behind him, Gabe feels jittery and on edge.

“Do you know what a Belladonna flower is?” William asks, eyes fixed firmly on Gabe’s.

“Um, sure, Deadly Nightshade.” Gabe says, reminding himself to never plan a course of action to converse with William to avoid disappointment. Apparently he would rather play by his own social rules.

The Dandy looks slightly impressed that Gabe knows his flowers.

“One of the most gorgeous, and most deadly flowers on Earth,” William continues, absentmindedly stoking the fur draped across his right shoulder. “Pete likened me to one once, after I turned him, quite poetic in a way.”

Gabe almost wants to laugh; of course Pete would come up with some emo pathetic fallacy to describe William.

William seems to drift off for a moment, gazing into space before snapping back into focus. “Of course, the main difference between a belladonna flower and a vampire is that one is bitten,” William’s lips curl into a fang-baring smile, “and the other bites.”

William walks forward, narrowing the gap between him and Gabe, and Gabe has the fleeting thought of _hey, this would probably be a good time to get the fuck out of here before your throat gets ripped out by a ridiculously sexy vampire,_ but his feet stay stuck to the ground and his mind doesn’t seem to be registering the panic reaction it should be creating, so he can’t really bring himself to care.

There are only inches between them now, and William flits his tongue out to wet his lower lip whilst Gabe tries not to watch him do it.

“The most poisonous part of the nightshade is the root,” William continues, and Gabe has to explicitly _not_ think about what part of William is the ‘root’, whilst simultaneously praying that he doesn’t have the ability to read minds like Pete does.

If he does, he doesn’t show it, just carries on with his weird anthology lesson. “Chew on it, and within minutes your pupils will dilate, your mouth will turn dry, your heartbeat will become rapid and you will be in a confused state of delirium.”

Gabe starts to wonder how likely it is that William has somehow managed to poison him in the last 15 minutes.

William stays silent for a while, searching Gabe’s face, and then smiles again. “That is, if you’re human. The lack of blood in vampire bodies prevents us from any kind of blood poisoning.”

Gabe tries not to look too relieved. William looks thoughtfully at Gabe for a few more seconds, and then leans forward so his lips hover just in front of Gabe’s ear. William laughs ever so slightly, and his breath hits the skin in a gust of air; Gabe can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and a familiar rush of heat crashes through his body.

“Why don’t we discuss this contract then?” William whispers, and moves out of Gabe’s space, flashing him an indignant smile and walking over to his desk. It takes Gabe a moment, but he manages to come to his senses and follow his brain’s instructions, moving to the empty chair opposite William.


End file.
